


Sing for me

by shallograves



Series: A dance and a song [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: BDSM, Bucky needs a hug, F/M, Hair Pulling, Jazz Music, Jealousy, Kissing, Masturbation, Multiple Personality Disorder, Possessive Behavior, Rough Sex, Sex Before Marriage, Slow Burn, Strippers & Strip Clubs, Swing Dancing, Wall Sex, boys in strip clubs, dubcon, mention of religious beliefs, necking, not civil war compliant, old world views, post modern jutebox, private strip shows, recovering bucky, steve needs to calm himself, wintersoldierdubcon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-08
Updated: 2018-02-10
Packaged: 2019-03-15 14:46:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,487
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13615599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shallograves/pseuds/shallograves
Summary: Lily was a struggling artist who needed money. James was a soldier who never came home from the war,struggling with another side of himself. Enter Tony Stark, Bachelor parties and a strip club, Hydra being Hydra and Steve being a disapproving mother hen. Money is going to be the last thing on her mind.





	1. Coffee

“Oh fuck that.” 

 

Lily Megan Clark stared at her computer, staring at the numbers on the screen like somehow her glare would be able to fix what was going on. There was no way she had spent so much, or owed so much. Even calculating it on her phone hadn’t helped, the numbers screaming at her like a beacon of.. 

 

This couldn’t be happening

 

Lily had been just checking, she had the habit of doing it every wednesday, her splurge day. She would buy her stupid expensive coffee and curl up in the corner of the cafe, breathing in the hipster air. Sometimes she would even be bad and get a bagel, one with a little bit of butter and maybe some jam. 

 

If Nick was being nice enough to even give her jam. 

 

It wasn’t like she had even spent that much. Not all at once. A hundred here, and hundred there. Fuck, she had been pretty good lately with her habits. But she had been a little bad on saturday, buying dinner out with her brother, ignoring the fact that she really didn’t have the funds to do so. It wasn’t like she had the money like her brother did, she didn’t have his job. 

 

No, Lily had one job, the pay subpar at best. 

 

She sighed as she brought up her search engine, typing in the whole odd job post she usually did. Sometimes she had been able to find a good babysitting gig, or even a party that she could sing at. 

 

Lily had been performing in bars for years, waiting for the moment someone other than her usuals, took notice of her. But now that she pushed 29, she grew restless of the bars, and the nightclubs. Of men eyeing her as she sang up on the stage, about the women who gave her dirty looks. As if they could fault her for her looks. 

 

Lily was a night angel, thats what Kal, the owner of the bar that hired the most, called her. She was the type of girl that during the day you avoided, with her long black hair, her pale skin. Even her eyes with the dark almost sapphire color that just screamed leave me alone. She wore all black, had been called emo and goth more than once. But at night, when the lights of the stage hit her just right.. 

 

She was intoxicating according to Kal. 

 

Lily didn’t see it. She didn’t see what most people did, blind to her beauty but surely not her faults. Her nose was small on her face, upturned and always just slightly red at the tip. Her lips were too full, and she could never find lipstick that didnt smear off easily. Her hair was a messy, currently pulled into a bun that left ringlets of dark black framing her face. 

 

Lily hated her eyes the most. 

 

Hated they were mirror images of a man who she never met, his dark eyes reflecting into her own everytime she looked in the damn mirror. She hated the black circle around the iris, the way the flecks of silver seemed to move spots everytime she looked. One eye was different than the other, one darker, almost like staring into the dark of the ocean. 

 

The other was lighter, brighter. 

 

Joseph didn’t have her looks, didn’t look like either of their parents really. He was a spitting image of both grandfathers, olive toned skin with brown eyes and dark brown hair. His smile was purely their mother, gentle and caring. 

 

His job as a doctor was something he was suited for. 

 

Lily hadn’t been suited for anything. Her voice was nice, but it wasn’t pop centric, instead some old raspy Jazzy sound that made her frown when she sung alone. In groups, people stared, jaws down, gaping. 

 

She had soul, and the lungs to harness it. 

 

Grabbing her bag, she slammed her computer shut, heading to the door while trying to shove the laptop in her purse. She had gotten a big bag just for the purpose of putting her mammoth of a computer inside of it. She had almost gotten it in, balancing her coffee and chewing on her lips. 

 

One second she was an acrobat, the next she was flat on her ass. 

 

Lily would have to thank god later that she had been sipping at the coffee for a while, that it had tempered down to just slightly hot instead of scalding. The brown drink seeped into her clothes, making her gasp, sitting in a puddle of coffee and… Tea. 

 

“What the fuck man?!” She cursed, looking up to tear whoever had bumped into her a new one before she gaped. 

 

Of fucking course. 

 

Eric Newman sneered at her, his nose scrunched up as he looked from his own ruined shirt to her still on the ground. She felt herself grimace as he took a step towards her, snarling. 

 

“What the fuck indeed. DO you know how much this shirt costs? Huh?” He pulled at the obviously armani button up, a squletching sound making her wince. He had gotten most of her coffee on him, meanwhile she was smelling like tea. Crappy tea. 

 

Lily couldn’t believe she had once thought he was hot, back when she took classes at NYU trying to make something of her life. 

 

“Sorry.” She mumbled, trying to get up, hissing as her ankle screamed at her. 

 

“Here let me help you.” For a second she thought it had been Eric who offered, but the voice was deeper, gruffer. Like the person hadn’t spoken in days, maybe weeks. Lily turned her head and reached up to the gloved hand, Eric still complaining about his ruined shirt. 

 

The man was taller than her, by a good foot, his shoulders wide. Even from under the hoodie, she could see the stubble, the tired lines of his face. The hand that helped her up retreated, shoving back into the pocket it had come from. His hair hung limply from the ponytail it was in, Lily could barely see the rest of it, half done to just pull it from his face. 

 

“Thanks.” She turned her eyes to Eric, who seemed to be fuming that she hadn’t heard a word he said. He even took another menacing step towards her when she tilted her head. “What? I said sorry? Look man, it was an accident.” 

 

“One your going to pay for bitch.”

 

Up until that point, the hooded man had watched, wanting to retreat to the corner of cafe and finish his own black coffee. But the moment Eric had opened his mouth, getting into her face, he moved. Shoving the tall willowy man away, he stood in front of her, his cold grey eyes narrowed. 

 

“I think you should just accept the ladies apologies and leave.” Eric opened his mouth, but the stranger growled out,” Now.” 

 

Eric tucked tail and ran, seeing something Lily couldn’t in the mans eyes. Promise of dark things and of pain. So much pain. 

 

Turning around, he took a deep breath as his chest brushed hers with how close he had been standing. 

 

“Whoa. Okay, so that was cool. Like majorly so. Thank you.” She gave him her best smile, despite her ankle throbbing and her soaked outfit. She almost groaned when she realized that she would have to do laundry sooner than she had planned. 

 

“No problem. Are you okay?” He didn’t seem worried, in fact Lily noticed the way his voice now went monotone. Even his eyes was just a vast blank of wintery tundra. 

 

Fuck she could get lost in eyes like those. 

 

“Im fine, used to falling really. Im a klutz.” She laughed, wincing as he stepped back as if he could catch her absolutely uselessness on flat ground. “Im lily. “ 

 

She held out a hand for him to shake, smiling. She was sure he wasn’t going to shake her hand as he left her hanging for almost a good three seconds before his other hand was in hers. Ungloved. 

 

Warm calloused fingers wrapped around hers, making her heart jump. She could have sworn at that moment he squeezed just a bit more, making her heart increase again. 

 

“James.”


	2. An offer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new friend and maybe a new job?

Lily wasn’t stalking him. 

 

She would for the next week and a half, repeat it to herself, everytime she went to her cafe. Curled up in her corner, sometimes with water, sometimes with coffee, she would try to ignore the feeling that she was. 

 

Because she had seen James more times than she could count. 

 

He seemed to be everywhere, or well, everywhere she was. 

 

At the mall, he had seen him shopping for clothes, looking anxious and put out by being there. She had figured he was with someone, avoiding him even when she needed in the store he was in. 

 

The third time she saw him was actually at the grocers. She had gotten a quick job to help set up a display, the owner having been a friend of her roommates. So she was paid sixty dollars to set up displays for an hour and a half, moving boxes around and directing customers to someone who could actually help them. She had been ready to leave when he had walked in, this time actually seeing her. 

 

He gave her a grimace she knew he thought was a smile and walked away. 

 

But every day she saw him once, at the cafe, in his own corner. He didn’t really do much, not that she noticed. No he usually sat with his head down, reading a paperback or writing in a journal. She wondered maybe if he was a blogger, but then she noticed the lack of anything electronic. He didn’t even seem to have a phone. 

 

She really wasn’t stalking him, she reminded herself as she sat down in her corner, watching him order his coffee. The place was unusually packed, except for her corner which was empty. Most people didn’t like it because it was in a odd spot, the sun beating down right on her chair. But she loved it. 

 

Lily had forced her eyes off of him, looking down at her computer and starting to work when she heard the chair next to her move just a bit. A sideways glance revealed that James was sitting in the loveseat next to her, his book already out. 

  
  


The next day was the same, even though his corner was empty. 

 

The third day it happened, Lily was starting to get comfortable, even leaving her bag in the seat until he got there. He gave her that grimace again before he sat down and went on reading. No one else joined them, and they sat in silence, enjoying the sun and warmth coming through the window. 

 

When lily was done for the day, James had finished his book and had taken up staring out the window, watching the different people walk by. Sometimes he shifted and sighed, stretching to work out his arm. 

 

Getting up, she startled him when she mumbled a small “Have a good day.” Before she went to get ready for her gig for the night. 

 

This was a routine, she liked it. She came in and waited a few moments before he showed up, and then they sat in silence. He never left before her, and was even starting to really smile when she said goodbye. He seemed to order the same thing every day, a coffee and bagel, sipping it slowly. Even the cafe owners knew his name by the time three weeks passed. 

 

The cafe was the only good part of her day. 

 

While Lily had been able to bounce between bar to bar, singing each and every night, bills were piling up. She had barely enough money to cover rent, and had taken for looking for a real job, something she hated doing. But she wasn’t getting any younger and she had no interest becoming some huge star. She liked performing at Kals. She liked the bar scene. 

 

She had started to drinking just water when she came to the Cafe. 

  
  


“I don’t know what to do. “ Lily complained to Kal, a month after she had met James. It was a friday, which meant in a hour the bar would be packed and she would have to be on the stage providing the entertainment. They weren’t even open yet, but Lily like getting there early while Kal polished the glasses and restocked. Sometimes she would even help him. 

 

“Well, you could always think about going back to school.” Kal suggested, knowing how tight money was for her. He had been there, before the bar. Lily just gave him a look before she shook her head. 

 

“No. I.. I cant do that again. Its so suffacating ya know? I don’t want to be tied down to a major, I like a freedom to choose.” She laid her forehead against the bar table, hissing when Kal whipped her with his rag. 

 

“Off.. I don’t know what to say then. I mean you could always dance, I’ve seen you when your not singing, you got some moves. “ She knew he meant it jokingly, but it had come across her mind once or twice. Or maybe a million times. 

 

See, Lily had taken dance classes, Ballet, jazz, and even tap. But she knew that wasn’t what he meant. He meant strip, which she had nothing against. Hell, she had taken pole dancing classes a few times, and knew the basics. 

 

“I.. Ive been thinking about it.” She admited and she saw him stop, Kal setting down the glass with a thunk. When she met his eyes, she could see the… Seriousness in his brown ones. She had expected disgust or maybe even confusion. When he reached for her hand, she barely kept from pulling away. 

 

“If.. If you decide to, I have a buddy. He owns a place, respectable place to. Mostly high rollers, guys who don’t want it to be known they are there. Most of these girls perform in rooms, strip and dance and they never see the men or get touched. “She blinked, hope rising in her chest. She could do that, fuck she really could. “I could.. Ya know, give him call.” 

 

She was nodding before he even offered. 

 

“God, Kal, please. That.. That would be great. But what about?” She waved to the bar. If she stripped she wouldn’t be able to sing. Not every night like she was doing now. He gave her a sad smile before he shrugged. 

 

“It’s okay. Ill find some jazzy guys who can fill the gaps when you can’t make it. I wish I could pay you more.” She shook him off, smiling sweetly. 

 

“You pay enough, I just need more. New York is expensive.” 

 

“You got that right sister. I’ll make the call tonight okay?”


End file.
